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Gandhis step up attacks on Modi, say BJP running one-man show

Karimnagar/Rae Bareli/Kishanganj, April 16 IANS | 12 months ago

It was a day of frontal attacks on the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, as Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Wednesday accused the BJP of concentrating all power in just one man.

Warning people against falling into the trap of one person being projected by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress leaders, addressing different rallies, said that while the BJP was putting all power in the hands of one person, the Congress believed in empowering more people.

Stepping up their attack on Modi, the Congress leaders urged voters to be wary of him.

Addressing rallies in Karimnagar (Telengana) and Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), Sonia Gandhi said: "The BJP is in the hands of a single individual."

Urging people to see that the nation did not get into his hands, she said: "The Congress philosophy is to provide equal opportunity for all, which is India's dream."

Hitting out at the BJP's "one-man show", Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, while addressing rallies in Rae Bareli constituency of her mother Sonia Gandhi, said: "This election is a fight between two different ideologies. Our party believes in unity, unlike other parties."

The Congress believes in empowering people, she said.

"The opposition party believes in giving all the power to one person or a few people who take all decisions, while the Congress wants people to become strong. All our schemes are based on it," Priyanka said.

Addressing a rally in Kishanganj in Bihar, Rahul Gandhi said the BJP model only spoke of one person.

"In the BJP model, there is only one person who works. Only one person knows everything. They want to make him prime minister. They are not bothered about the rest of the country. They neither ask you anything nor do they tell you anything," he said.

He also said the Congress plans to bring 70 crore poor people into the middle class over the next five years.

Addressing her first rally in Telangana after parliament passed the Telangana bill in February, Sonia Gandhi claimed the formation of a separate state was not possible without the Congress.

She said the party kept its promise to deliver Telangana and fulfilled the 60-year-old dream of the people.

Urging people in Telangana to vote for the Congress, Sonia Gandhi targeted the BJP, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress for opposing Telangana bill in parliament.

She did not spare the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which has refused to merge with the Congress or even have an electoral alliance with it.

"The TRS had no role in drafting and passing the Telangana bill," she said and pointed out that seven months before the TRS was formed in 2001, Congress legislators from Telangana had met and passed a resolution, demanding the party leadership to back separate Telangana state.

"The Congress has turned your dream in reality. On June 2, Telangana will become the 29th state. I am happy to participate in your celebrations," said the Congress president, who had promised a separate state at the same venue during the 2009 campaign.

Simultaneous elections to 119 assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana are scheduled April 30.

In Kanyakumari, Sonia Gandhi said the Congress has done the most to help Sri Lankan Tamils.

She said Congress has taken several steps to find a political solution in the issue.

She recalled the death of her husband and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and asked what other sacrifice could have been made.

Sonia Gandhi said the nation is being divided on the basis of religion which in turn would destroy social peace.

She said during the UPA's 10-year rule, several crores of people have been brought above the poverty line.